CHRISTMAS FUN READY-MADE CHRISTMAS IDEAS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS. PERSONAL FAVOURITE 1: Father Christmas he got stuck!

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1 CHRISTMAS FUN READY-MADE CHRISTMAS IDEAS FOR YOUNG LEARNERS Christmas is coming soon! I don t suppose there are many people who would say I m not looking forward to Christmas. Most of us are eagerly awaiting family meetings, ginger biscuits and of course a big, bright Christmas tree! Why not take advantage of this heart-warming time to introduce a bit of Christmas atmosphere into the classroom. I hope you will enjoy this collection of my personal Christmas favourites. Have fun! Lots of Christmas fun! Regina Raczyńska PERSONAL FAVOURITE 1: Father Christmas he got stuck! This is one of my personal favourites. The exercise involves a song about Father Christmas. As is widely known, Father Christmas is not exactly a sporty type, he is not very fit and his build has been known to cause problems when trying to get down a narrow chimney And this is exactly what happens in the song THE STORY When introducing children to the exercise, first tell them the background story about a hard-working Father Christmas who wanted to deliver all the presents to all the children. Describe him getting on his sledge, carrying a heavy sack, trying to squeeze down a chimney and getting stuck. Tell them there is a happy ending to the story. Remember to illustrate each piece of the story with English phrases and short sentences. Here are my ideas, but you might change them according to your students needs: 1) Christmas! Hurray! 2) A big bag, a very big bag! 3) A heavy bag, a very heavy bag! 4) I can do it! I can do it! 5) Oh no! Help! I got stuck! 6) See you next year! THE SONG Introduce the words of the song explaining them verse by verse. You may want to think about different gestures for each part of it. I love watching my students when they sing the last two lines and shrug their shoulders: What bad luck! The song is sung to the melody of Are you sleeping Brother John? The children will pick it up quickly and if you want to repeat it next year, they will probably still remember the words! If your students like singing, you might suggest singing it in canon. THE WORDS Father Christmas Father Christmas He got stuck! He got stuck! Going down the chimney Going down the chimney What bad luck! What bad luck! sung to the melody of Are you sleeping Brother John? Are you sleeping 2x Brother John 2x Morning bells are ringing 2x Ding Ding Dong 2x PHOTOCOPIABLE MATERIAL The children learn the words of the song and sing it a few times. Next, encourage them to work with a photocopy. Remember to prepare the necessary number of copies in advance. Ask the children to cut out the pictures, look at the story and put the pictures in the right order. Next, children number the pictures 1-6 and stick them in the right order into their notebooks. Say the words of the text and encourage the children to repeat them: Number 1. Christmas! Hurray! Ask them to point to the pictures as you retell the whole story

2 Father Christmas got stuck! PHOTOCOPIABLE

3 Father Christmas got stuck! PHOTOCOPIABLE

4 PERSONAL FAVOURITE 2: We wish you a Merry Christmas! We wish you a Merry Christmas is a popular Christmas song. In many schools, there are special Christmas concerts at this time of year, when all the classes have to perform something special. We wish you a Merry Christmas is a tried and tested Christmas classic, perfect for children of all ages. As well as singing you can also also focus on the active participation of children in the event. Prepare copies of signs for each child. They can cut them out and decorate them during class or at home. When they are ready, attach the signs to pencils so that the children can hold them during the show. When singing for the first time, the children should hold their signs in front of them. When they sing: Merry Christmas! they should hold the signs out and show them to the audience. When singing the song for the second time, they should hold the signs up at the words Merry Christmas and your task is to encourage the audience to finish the lines. The last line And a happy New Year is sung by everybody. When singing for the last time the whole procedure is the same but the entire last verse is sung by everybody. Remind the students to smile and I am sure the performance will be a great success and the audience will have fun, too! The song may be practised in the same way in groups in the classroom (e.g. left side versus right side, boys versus girls etc.).

5 MERRY CHRISTMAS PHOTOCOPIABLE

6 MERRY CHRISTMAS PHOTOCOPIABLE

7 MERRY CHRISTMAS PHOTOCOPIABLE

8 MERRY CHRISTMAS PHOTOCOPIABLE

9 PERSONAL FAVOURITE 3: Snowflakes are falling! Snowflakes are falling is an idea for children who already know numbers 1-10 and are able to read. Introduce the topic of winter, snow and falling snowflakes. Prepare a set of picture flashcards and word flashcards. Say: Look! Snowflakes are falling! Encourage the children to say: How many? Pick a word card, show it to the children and say: (Four!). Repeat. Prepare one set of cards per student and encourage them to play in pairs. My students love playing memo in pairs. The numbered cards with the snowflakes are great to play the game. Pairs of children use one set of cards. All the cards are spread out face down on the desk. The object of the game is to turn over two cards and try to find a matching pair (i.e. a pair with the same number of snowflakes on each card). Students take it in turns to turn over pairs of cards. If a matching pair is found, the student keeps them and has another go. The game continues until just one card (zero) is left. The winner is the student with the highest number of matching pairs.

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11 nine ten ZERO six seven eight two three five one four PHOTOCOPIABLE

12 PERSONAL FAVOURITE 4: Christmas crossword! Older students also like talking about Christmas so here is an interesting task for them a Christmas crossword puzzle! Prepare the neccesary number of copies, one for each student. Prepare picture flashcards for yourself and introduce or review the Christmas vocabulary. You can do it in an amusing way ask them to react to the words you say. They sit down, look at the pictures you show and repeat the words, but when they hear a word starting with -s they must stand up. The words starting with -s are: snowflakes, snowman, star and stocking. After that, distrubute the handouts and ask children to do the crossword. 7 S 4 N 3 R 6 O 1 2 T E 5 S W 8 9 A A E N N A A N T N T E D O R N G O D E W E C Y E F L K C R L I A A N N K G E E S

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14 candy cane hat tree snowflakes star snowman stocking angel reindeer TEACHER S WORD CARDS

15 Christmas crossword PHOTOCOPIABLE

16 EXTRA Here is another Christmas version of Are you sleeping Brother John? Use it to introduce a Christmas atmosphere to your classroom. When presenting the song, remember to tell the children they should stand up for the words: Here I am! Where is Santa? Where is Santa? Here I am. Here I am. Merry, merry Christmas. Merry, merry Christmas. Ho, Ho, Ho! Ho, Ho, Ho! There are still so many ideas but let s finish off with the last song sung to the same melody: Father Christmas, Father Christmas, Ho, ho, ho. Ho, ho, ho. Where is Santa? Where is Santa? I don t know. Do you know? This final version is great to practise with smaller groups. At the beginning tell the children that there are different names for Saint Nicholas in English he is also called Father Christmas or Santa. Ask the children what he is called in their language. Prepare a Christmas toy, a little bell, a star or simply a Christmas picture that children will pass on. Student A sings the first verse of the song. The whole group pretends to be Santa and sings: Ho! Ho! Ho! Next, student A continues singing and at the end asks the student next to them (student B) the question: Do you know? and hands them the Christmas object you prepared. Student B can answer: I don t know! Repeat the song around the circle until the final student asks you, the teacher, Do you know? At this stage you can say Yes, I do! and reveal a picture or figurine of Santa that was hidden somewhere handy before the lesson (Don t forget to hide it before you start!). At this stage, perhaps Santa could give out some little sweets to the children Merry Christmas to you All!